one more ? about using avr as pre/amp

leftwinger57

Almost a to man here you profess getting an avr w/ pre/outs to boost the power of your avr and to go 2-chl. In the aYamaha manual there is a very little notation that says if you are going to do this you should remove your front 2
h/t speakers. Again since my Onkyo p-301 died I have been using the Yamaha as the pre and removing the positives off the avr.1.It says to, 2.They are accesable.Now the question is if most have different speakers for 2 chl do
you remove your h/t fronts or just leave them? Even in the 2-chl setting if the fronts are plugged in they still do play. The sub is also on which is also ok w/ me.
If it's puerly preference then I would and do remove the h/t fronts just so I get full effect on either the Bose 601s or
Infinitys w/ the sub through my speaker selector.

tonyb

Man LW, can I borrow your Captain Crunch decoder ring ?

Most use one set of speakers for both 2 channel and HT if they are in the same room, on the same gear. Whats the point otherwise ? Buy speakers that do both well and you won't need to be switching cables when you want to listen to music, or moving speakers around. Who wants to do that ? Disconnecting the sub should be of no value when switched to 2 channel so leave it alone unless you want it on. All this is a set up issue in the receiver, you tell it what speakers to play in what mode, done.

Better AVR's, it goes without saying, have better preamp sections. On par with seperates ? I don't think so but some get pretty darn close. Alot of us use a receiver as a preamp for 2 channel, nothing wrong with that as long as the SQ floats your boat.

leftwinger57

Yea I'm just of fountain of questions lately. I do leave the sub alone it adds so much to my beleaguered Infinitys.But since I only have a 1 bdrm place the living rm. is where most all the gear is and since the manual said to it I guess they assumed you have at least 2 different speaker systems .W/ me I have 3 in 1 rm and the JBL bookies on zn 2 off the Yamaha in my bdrm.Again I tried both ways and I do like just using the bigger speakers for 2-chl and the Klipsch smalls for h/t.As for SQ I think a stand alone pre would do better
along the lines of an Adcom 400/555 gtp.

cnh

I can understand your confusion. I run separate systems myself. Which doesn't mean I never use the HT for some two channel but almost never. Why? Because it's SO DAMN easy to buy a relatively "cheap" HT set up and get quite GOOD HT surround sound in a small to mid room. It's very "easy" in fact. When I see people spend BIG for speakers in a HT unless they're pulling "double" duty, I think it's a waste of money better spent on a separate two channel. But money is also a consideration as is space, and so on. So there is NO one right FIT for everyone. It's your budget, your spaces, and your preferences that will determine what you do.

For me, vibrating my two story house from top to bottom with $2000 dollar subs is not a priority and my wife would throw me out of the house, the neighbors would call the cops and my daughter would say, "turn it down Dad, it's TOO LOUD!" lol Others not only run multiple subs but have subsonic units under their seating! lol

If I felt my butt vibrate to a couple of movies that would be enough and it would lose its effect, novelty!

The question is, what do "you" value more: HT or Two channel, or do you even value one more than the other? See how fickle even the question is?

Good luck!

cnh

deronb1

They way I had my system set up when I was using the AVR for double duty was:

Have all five HT speakers wired like normal and run interconnects from front outputs to amp. Run wires from amp to 2ch speakers.

When using as an HT system, don't turn the amp on.

When using as a 2ch system, turn the amp on and turn the speakers to "off" on the AVR.

It worked fine and the nice thing was that I could blend the sub in when needed.

pearsall001

Nothing wrong with running an AVR as the preamp for your 2 channel listening. I've been doing it for years & I did go the route of a seperate pre on several occasions. The pre's were very nice sounding (CJ PV14L tube & a Krell KAV250p) but didn't overally impressed compared to my AVR. I just don't buy into that theory that a seperate pre is needed for 2 channel listening. Too much of a blanket statement as far as I'm concerned.

kidglove13

Before I had a separate 2 channel system my HT system did double duty.
It was geared more towards HT but it still sounded fine for 2 channel
I think having another set of speakers for 2 channel listening would be a waste
I would upgrade your current mains to something that can perform both duties well.
Alot depends on what AVR you have